This collection of more than thirty texts, which were originally published between 1790 and the present day, explores man's rich relationship with material things. Devised largely in response to the gradual breakdown of the divide between art and
design that began over a century ago, this book sheds light on the ways that the concept of the thing as idea has been considered over time.
In On Things as Ideas, writers from different fields explore how things interact with materials, structures, and production processes while defining and registering the intangible qualities of the material world. Each author considers the different relationships between the context of a thing and its thingness, describing the ways in which things and ideas intersect.
Contributions by
Carl Andre, Charles Baudelaire,
Walter Benjamin, Barbara Bloemink, Jan Boelen,
Louise Bourgeois, Sheldon Cheney, Martha Candler Cheney,
Alex Coles, Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby, Hal Foster, Sigmund Freud,
Dan Graham,
Isabelle Graw, Sebastian Hackenschmidt, Dietmar Rübel,
Graham Harman, G. W. F. Hegel,
Martin Heidegger, Dave Hickey, Matthew Higgs,
Donald Judd,
Emmanuel Kant,
Frederick Kiesler,
Sven Lütticken,
Alessandro Mendini,
W. J. T. Mitchell,
Jasper Morrison, Bruno Munari,
Robert Nickas,
Alice Rawsthorn, Jeff Rian, Richard Rinehart, Anthony Vidler.
